The Chrysanthemum Gardeners
Group Name: The Chrysanthemum Gardeners (CGs) Created by: Jay P Hailey, germinated from seeds by Carol Daugherty Appearance: Crystal McNamara and her back story Number of Members: Less than 1,500 Nature of Members: Human, spies, martial artists and informants, 90% Japanese 3% Korean and 7% other. The CGs have a tradtional Life-Cycle * Age 0-6, Childhood, Normally done * Age 6 - 13, training. Children and adoptees are trained in the arts of Ninjutsu and secrecy. They also undergo various trials of character. * Age 13-16, Skills training. Martial arts and acrobatic skills are upgraded, also the prospective ninja is trained in Spycraft and how to do all the shady, underhanded stuff a ninja does. * Age 16 to 30 - Operative, the agent is a front line street operative and hitter for the CGs * Age 30 - 50 Elder Operative. CGs of this age are expected to be trainers and leaders of younger agents, trading slower reflexes for more operational wisdom and skill. * Age 50+ Trainer/Lore Keeper. CGs who reach this age are expected to retire from field duty and become trainers and educators of the young ones. Although these roles are fluid, based on the skills of the operative, and needs of any given mission, Traditionalists are expected to take up the expected role aggressively and thoroughly. Organization: Cellular. Although there is an overall command structure, small groups of CGs operate independently to reduce the possibility of the whole organization being penetrated. Usually a band of CG Ninja will organize around a cover identity/activity. The core command group are the staff of a gardening company that has provided Chrysanthemums to the Royals Princesses since the 1300's. One band is the staff of a restaurant in Vista City. Another band operates a charter air freight service in Okinawa, A third band is an accounting agency that usually does auditing work for Fuji heavy industries, and so on. While operational cells may by multicultural, the command cell has been strictly pure Japanese, with isolated exceptions since about 1360. Lore-Masters who know the composition of the original three generations of CGs consider this Ironic. The original CGs were outcasts, mixed race or foreigners, recruited precisely because they could have no place but what the Princess gave them. Game Role: Good guy ninja World Role: Anti-Corruption spies for the Japanese Royal Family. Relative Influence: Compared to their numbers, large. Public or Secret?: Very secret. Publicly Stated Goal: None - secretly, to learn all that is learnable about the Yakuza and assist public authorities in taking them down. To uncover rivals for power to the Imperial family and rebellion. Relative Wealth: Large. Over time the CG organization has gotten stock in several very successful Japanese companies. Through various means, the CGs use this money to fund themselves and their operations. Group advantages: Secrecy, Martial arts, and espionage skills. Special Abilities: Their martial arts have been refined for generations for quick effect in tight quarters. Group disadvantages: No legal authority or recognition of their status. Guns and Phasers are not terribly impressed by spinning jump kicks or nerve strikes. Special disadvantages: A Few Yakuza groups who have twigged to their existence are not shy about sending hitters with big guns to try and wipe them out. Yakuza thugs thirst for a fight. Those who favor them: The Japanese Royal Family. Those opposed to them: The Yakuza, counter espionage forces. Espionage forces who oppose Japan and The West Area of Operation: Mostly Japan, but anywhere Japanese business and politics might reach Headquarters Location: Edo, at the Princess Fujikima Gardens. Their operational HQ is a shipping company based in Hiroshima. Public Face: History of the Organization: 1299 - A band of adventurers was recruited, secretly by the Oldest Daughter of Emperor Kameyama. Their mission was to investigate reports of corruption and allow the forces of the emperor to strike against corrupt officials and rebels. They were known as Her Highness's Chrysanthemum growers, and royal gardeners was their cover. They conflicted with numerous rebel bands, uprising warlords and corrupt Daimyo. They mixed Shao-Lin Kung Fu with Japanese sword art and the crafts of espionage and assassination to create Ninjutsu. As the members of the band began to age, they recruited new members from among the downtrodden and invisible members of society. The next generation of Crysanthemum Gardeners (CGs) infiltrated the Wokou Pirates and the dangerous interface between Japan and the outside world, They serve the royal family, and as a reward for service were awarded control of some businesses owned by the royal family. 1336 - Muromachi Period begins the System of Daimyo ruling over portions of Japan, backed by their Samurai. Feuds and violence between Daimyo and their underlings becomes the order of the day. 1340 - the establishment of the (CGs) as a clan is well under way. 1359 - the Third Generation of the CG clan 1429 - The Unification of the Ryuku Kingdom, south of Japan. This netural kingdom allows interface between Japan, China and Korea, and becomes a crossroads for trade, spying and the usual fun a neutral country can provide. The CGs have a base there and use the Ryuku Kingdom as a revolving door for leaving the Islands 1467 - The Sengoku period of violence and mass insanity grips Japan. There is, effectively no rule of law among the Japanese Daimyos and elites. The only restraint is the military force of your rivals. He who has the biggest army can do whatever he wishes. The CG clan, fighting from the shadows battling this, spreading the word of corrupt officials and assisting imperial troops in taking down vicious warlords, even assassinating them, when possible. However, the effect is to randomize this big contest of power and monkey barrel politics. 1543 - The first Europeans visit Japan and open trade relations. 1603 - Kabukimono, or "Strange ones", Ronin or just flamboyant bandits began to be seen in more chaotic areas of Japan. These guys were a mix Ronin and thugs (Think a mix of Akira Kurusawa and a Gangster Rap Video), Kabukimono tended to be unpredictable and dangerous to passers-by. Some Kabukimono became private security for Tekiya, unregulated street merchants or Bakuto, illicit gambling houses. 1609 - Tokogawa authorized the Shimazu Family to invade and conquer The Ryuku Kingdom, leading, in time to its annexation. 1635 - The Sakoku Edict forbids Japanese people from leaving Japan, or Europeans from entering, on pain of death. The CGs were some of the few people who retained the ability to leave Japan, although in small numbers and not with great effect. Mostly they still engage in locating, identifying and spying on rivals for power, rebels and bandits. Japan is not a stable or safe place durting this time, so there is always plenty of work to be done. 1853 - Matthew Perry arrives in Japan and forces it back open. 1868 - The CGs are among the groups boosting for Emperor Meiji to restore Imperial Power. The Meiji Restoration saw Japan go from a backwards, 3rd world country to a leading industrial powerhouse. The CGS played their part by learning about the Emperor's internal rivals and assisting in their elimination. The CGs cheerfully folded themselves into the new, western corporate structure of Japan, happy to have a strong Emperor to serve again. 1900 - the Yakuza has estblished itself as the primary go-between and facilitator of gray market and black market businesses. 1914-1918 WWI - the CGs assisted Japanese forces in relieving Germany of her Asian colonies. 1919 - 1926 - the Manchuko schism. The CGs original mandate (Never changed) was to monitor for rebellion and corruption - the traditionalists viewed this as their primary and sole purpose. To give the royal family information with which to battle corruption and rebellion. However, many of the CGs caught nationalist fever, and saw their new mission as assisting the Japanese gov't and army in conquest. When the Japanese invaded China, this Schism came to a head. The CGs broke into traditionalist camps and "Volunteer" camps. The Volunteers joined the army or lent the army support, the traditionalist camp stayed true to the original mission and stayed home. In the resulting wars, The "Volunteers" fought bravely and well, but died along with the rest of the Japanese Military under massed fire power of the allies. 1945 - the tattered remains of the Volunteers folded themselves back into the old traditionalist camp, and the Schism was over. 1985 - Kumikura Satsura, a CG operating a restaurant in Vista City caused a controversy when he adopted a red-headed suburban american white girl, Crystal McNamara, Age 7 Adopting urchins and outcasts was a long tradition among the CGs - these people are invisible and can often go surprising places. But there was still a great deal of racism and resentment among the Elder CGs. Kumikura and his family were recalled to Japan where they were interrogated and essentially tried. Crystal performed for the CG elders and passed a loyalty test. In the end there was another schism, along young/old lines. Crystal was accepted by the younger CGs and grudgingly tolerated by the elders. 1995 - with the revelation of kidnapped Japanese nationals held by the North Koreans, the CGs recruit north Korean defectors as advisors and begin preparing a group to go into North Korea and look for other captives. 2005 - another controversy erupts among the CGs, Japans economic future is hooking into Chinas. China's economy is so much bigger than Japan's that, as China awakens, it will become the dog that wags the tail. Younger CGs want to financially engage with China and establish groups in China to assist the CGs and the Japanese to manage their interaction with China. Older CGs want to avoid a repetition of the WWII experience and are reticent. This is handled via compromise. a Chinese wing of the CGs are founded and sent to develop and gather information as they can. 2015 - with the Galen database throwing everything topsy turvy and new technology sweeping the globe, the CGs are riding the wave of good economic times, but retrenching to focus on their core mission - to gather information about rebellion and corruption and to assist authorities in fighting these elements. They have three specialized R&D Bands, now, specializing in learning the new technology and learning how to penetrate it and overcome security systems based on the new technology. As they fall behind on this (Everyone criminal is, really) the CGs fall back on the principle method of espionage, "social engineering" Characters Update: Kumikura Satsura 1995, Like Mister Miyagi, but with a restaurant. Age, 50ish 2015 Age 70ish. Semi-retired from the restaurant, he still shows up and tells everyone how to do their job. Acts as grandpa to Kumikura band Generation 3, and as a gardener, with a specialization in Chrysanthemums. Mrs Kumikura 1995 and 2015, not very carefully detailed. Mom to Kimi and grandmom to the pack Kumikura Kimiko 1995, Early 20's laughing giggly restaurant girl. Waitress and part-time cook, always seems down to party and have a good time. 2015, early 40's, Married lady, best authentic Japanese caterer in the Vista City region. She is pregnant with her second child. Hosato Akira, 2015, Early 40s Married to Kimiko, A software engineer, working freelance for anyone who will tolerate his work from home style. Akira is an electronics technician as well. Enjoys going where he shouldn't and compromising the security there. Child Kumikura 2015 age 5, in Kindergarten Cousin Kumikura, 2015 age 12, a half Japanese boy who was adopted by another CG family, one of their ops went bad, and there were fireworks involved. The Cousins Kumikura were shuffled out of the country. the survivors of his adoptive family are doing jail time. He may well be their anchor for emigrating to the US in about a decade. Other cousin Kumikura, 2015 a Filipino girl, age 11. The Kumikuras treat her as one of the family. Americans are too ignorant to see how revolutionary this is. She was previously adopted by the same family, and shuffled out for the same reasons. Crystal McNamara: 1995 Early 20s. Jock Girl. barbie in a cop uniform. All cheerleader, few brains. 2015. Early 40s. A professional Cop all the way through. Emmmanuel Aguinaldo, 2015, early 40s. A Phillipino man. Formerly an artist and musician, he was injured in a terrorist attack. His eyes were ruined. Now he is a musician. The event in which he lost his sight was actually an attack on a terrorist cell the CGs had happened upon. Faced with a quick attack or standing by to let the terror cell carry out its planned operation, Emmaneual's band attacked. Emmanuel was shot laterally across his eyes. He is on the waiting list for cyber eyes. Crystal is not the shy retiring Japanese wife Emmanuel was expecting, but he enjoys her. They practice martial arts every morning. Cousin Fujiarwa Soji - age 7, a Japanese/slovak girl. Her mother was enslaved by a Yakua underboss. After a violent raid by a rival faction, Soji was the only survivor, at age 3. She is liable to break into a goulash of English and Japanese if she doesn't pay attention. She has been with Crystal and Emmanuel for 4 years, Cousin Delano (Vinh) McNamara, age 4. Delano's father was a half black/half Vietnamese drug smuggler, his mother was a half Japenese hooker. The CGs picked him up out of an orphanage 2 years ago and sent him to Crystal and Emmanuel. Crystal never intended to have children, and was originally resistant to the idea. She was buffaloed into it by Mister Kumikura who pointed out that he adopted her. She is adjusting to the idea, but enjoys the idea that she is the breadwinner who leaves the house. Grandma Kumikura often stops by to assist Emmanuel. Unbenownst to Crystal, the kids have gotten under her skin and she enjoys them. She just doesn't know it yet.